The Volvo V60 Cross Country is a soft-roader that offers light capability when the going gets tough, wrapped in swaths of luxury and style. We take one for a spin on the paved and dirt roads of northern California to see what's what.

Long before Volvo got into the crossover-utility game with the XC90 and XC60, it was making ruggedized all-wheel-drive wagons. In fact it's been doing so longer than Audi has, and almost as long as Subaru. And now it's returned to that tradition with the debut of its new V60 Cross Country on the floor of the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show.

I must have been around Bar Mitzvah age when I was in the back of my parents' car on the highway as we passed a truck full of Volvo 850 T-5R wagons – half of them in black, half in banana yellow. It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen: a whole gaggle of sleeper power wagons that were infinitely cooler than whatever minivan we were riding in. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago, but it was. And Polestar is understandably keen to mark the anniversary of the first overt Volvo perfor

Volvo is bringing a model to the Los Angeles Auto Show that isn't afraid to get a little dirty. The Swedish automaker will finally unveil its V60 Cross Country crossover, and it has confirmed that the model will be available in North American markets shortly.

Things have been slow in Gothenburg the past few years, but they're picking up speed. The only new model Volvo has released in the past four years since it was taken over by Geely – that being the V40 introduced in 2012 – started its development when the company was still under Ford's umbrella. But now the Swedish automaker is preparing to launch a volley of new models, and the new XC90 is only the starting point.

In the market for a Volvo V60, but can't decide between the Polestar version of the D6 Plug-in Hybrid? Well, chances are, if you're reading these tree-hugging pages, you've already made up your mind, but allow us to make the decision a little easier for you.

You saw their US reveal at this year's Chicago Auto Show and read our driving impressions from Sweden. Now, if you act fast, you can actually own one of the very limited 2015.5 Volvo S60 and V60 Polestar models coming to the United States. The order page for these slick Swedes is now online, but the slots are filling up about as quickly as these cars accelerate.

We've got it all wrong. See, here in the United States, we take our children to school in minivans and crossovers, many of which have DVD players that allow each party inside the vehicle to completely ignore the others. For lack of a built-in DVD player, there are iPads, iPhones, iPods, Playstation Vitas, Nintendo 3DS and whatever other electronic device is gripping the youths of America.

With the rise in popularity of first the minivan and later the crossover as the default family vehicle, there have been about 20 years of children who have missed out on the joy of rear-facing jump seats in station wagons. It means kids today don't know the pleasure to be found in making faces or lewd gestures at other drivers while their parents can't see. Plus, they don't know the slightly nauseous feeling of watching the world pass by in reverse. However, a group of filmmakers look back with

Polestar Performance has been around since 1996, but until recently, it only did two things: manage Volvo motorsports operations and run a specialist consumer-facing side that built concept cars and boosted Volvo's turbocharged production cars by 15 to 60 horsepower. Five years ago, it fulfilled its long-held desire to engineer an actual production car, first creating the C30 Polestar Performance Concept, a showcar that led to the C30 Polestar Limited Edition.

Lest anyone think Volvo's V60 Diesel Plug-in Hybrid is strictly for the leisurely, gas-sipping green-driver variety, the Swedish automaker is adding a sporty wrinkle. The R-Design package that Volvo added to some other models last year will now be an option for the V60 PHEV. Drag-racing surely awaits.

Volvo will unveil the third in its series of new concepts to the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, but it will also bring a flotilla of special editions to the Swiss show. The V70 and XC70 are getting limited-edition models called simply Edition, and the V40, V40 Cross Country, V60 and XC60 will have Volvo Ocean Race Editions.

We showed you the hot, new Volvo V60 Polestar a few months back and raved about the fact that this long-roofed family car can hit 60 miles per hour in just 4.9 seconds. Now, we're seeing it and its four-doored brother, the S60 Polestar sedan, in person for the first time.

When Volvo announced US pricing for its updated 2014 model line, it left one vital model out of the equation: that would be the V60, the long-roofed version of the S60 sedan and the long-awaited replacement for the V70 wagon that left our shores nearly four years ago. But if you look at the V60's product page now, you'll see a starting MSRP listed at $35,300. That represents a $2,900 premium over the S60 and an $800 premium over the larger (but older) XC70 softroader.

The relationship between Volvo and Polestar was forged – and forges deeper still – on the racetrack, where the latter fields the former's tin-top entries in the STCC, WTCC and V8 Supercars. And based on their success together in touring-car racing, Volvo has had Polestar amp up a number of its production road cars. What we have here is the latest.

Earlier this year, Polestar jumped from the racetrack to the showroom with its own take on the Volvo S60 sedan. And given the similarity and the proud history of hot Volvo wagons, not to mention the spy shots and teasers, we knew it would only be a matter of time before Volvo's racing partner would return with a similar take on the V60. And that's just what it's done.

When it comes to its plug-in hybrid SUVs, Volvo is willing to sacrifice a bit of range to go a lot further, in the global sense. The Swedish automaker started producing a diesel plug-in hybrid version of the V60 late last year but doesn't plan to make that model available around the world. Instead, Volvo will replace it with a gasoline-drinking plug-in hybrid XC90 crossover, Australia's Drive.com says, citing Volvo executive Lex Kerssemakers. The new plug-in hybrid will use a gas-powered four-cy

Something – we don't know what yet – is coming from Polestar. While we'll be recovering from next week's LA Auto Show and Tokyo Motor Show (and starting to slack off ahead of an extended Thanksgiving weekend), the official tuner of Volvo products has announced plans to unveil its latest creation in less than two weeks.